Coordinating the purchase and installation of a new in-store marketing display can be difficult to time and properly execute which is why finding a printing partner who specializes in digital printing and has a history of working with brands and display companies may be your best solution to your needs.  Digital printing offers many advantages ranging from minimal waste, low setup charges, substrate versatility, and until now fast printing!  Finding a printing partner that has both state-of-the-art digital equipment to get the job done quickly and a proven track record of meeting their promises should be you’re primary goal to ensure you get your jobs on time and your projects are executed as planned.

For those organizations in a hurry, or that are trapped by tight around timetables, digital printing can provide a theoretical life jacket for the job.  Several factors help increase the speed of digital printing over any other printing alternative method.

Taking advantage of shorter runs
For starters, digital printing doesn’t need screens, plates, molds, dies or jigs.  Not only does this cut down on prep time and intial setup costs for any size project but it makes digital printing especially ideal for shorter to medium-length print runs. As Xeikon pointed out, all a digital printer needs to do when a job comes in is locate the file and press the “print” button…..We’ll, we would argue it’s more complicated than that.  All jobs need the artwork to be cost analyzed, laid out and nested in pre-press, work instructions written, and setup with die lines, bleeds, and RIP settings.  Then there is color matching, sourcing the material, and setting up the printer for the job.  Finally, the job has to funnel through the finishing department no matter what print method is choosen.  All in all, it is much faster than any other printing method, but it still requires time, know how, and execution.

In addition, digital printing also has some neat features that were never possible with other printing methods such as the ability to add variable data printing.  Today, digital printing and software are capable of printing custom part numbers, sequential numbers, and variable pricing, all driven from spreadsheets without making new artwork for each type of graphic.  Using variable printing makes what may formerly be considered many short run jobs that need new plates or screens for each change in art can now be grouped into one large job with variable printing using digital printing as the print method.

Utilizing advanced prepress software
Advanced prepress software automation is a powerful tool available especially to digital printers to help lower the overall cost and time in the prepress art process.  Automation removes the tedious and time consuming tasks within prepress while still generating quality results.  At Hopkins , software automation helps with optimizing artwork layouts to minimize material waste, it quickly produces proofs to approve, generates finishing die lines, and automatically assigns settings to jobs based on their material substrate.  Like many solutions for digital printing, this feature is highly scale-able, effecting massive change or aiding in the slightest tweaks to page layout. While the software automation is more efficient, there are still aspects to many projects that require an experienced prepress artist to properly setup in our custom printing market.  Utilizing automation software allows the client to save money in addition to time.

Finding a printer that invests in speed and quality
Large orders with short lead times can be very dependent on the speed of the printer because not all digital printers are created equal.  Not even close.  A print shop who is running old or 2nd tier equipment will often times be sacrificing quality or speed.  Quality and speed tend to come with the most advanced digital printers in the market.  Hopkins Printing has a reputation of buying state-of-the-art equipment in the Inca Onset S20 in 2008, the Inca Onset Q40i in 2013, and now the Inca Onset X in 2018.  Each generation further expands our capacity, throughput, and quality.  Our new Inca Onset X can print upwards of 7,000 sqft/hr while also having more color than other industry leading presses because it features an expanded color gamut beyond CMYK.  We love the Inca Onset product line as our history shows because they are true production work horses who take quality and speed seriously and we view the quality output as unrivaled.

Reputation is most important
If you’re looking for a quick turnaround, it’s best to be up front about it and use a printing partner that stands behind the timelines they give.  Finding a printer that has redudancy, capacity, and speed is the insurance policy needed to protect yourself from your supplier saying they can’t meet your promised deadlines because their printer broke down or a big client called and bumped your job.  We at Hopkins believe in maintaining our reputation as being reliable and quality driven at all costs.  We offer realistic lead times and have built in redundancy throughout our organization in our personnel, suppliers and equipment to ensure we never let our customers down.

Hopkins Printing understands that our clients sometimes need a miracle done in a metaphorical minute. We use high-quality digital printers to give you the speed you need without sacrificing the professional look you expect. Contact Hopkins Printing today to find out how our digital printing service can help your company.